Cotopaxi, party in Quito and now Baños!

The past couple days have been phenomenal. I came back from Mindo, had dinner on the terrace at the Secret Garden, and met a bunch of new people. In Mindo I went on the canopy tour over the cloud forest (hopefully pictures to come), and on the truck ride down I met a couple of sisters from Belgium - Marie and Kim. They happened to be hiking to the refuge on Cotopaxi tomorrow and I was able to jump on their tour which was quite fortunate since I hadn't had much luck (no tengo suerte) in finding a tour until then. So yesterday morning at the not too ungodly hour of 7am we hopped in the car and started the hour and a half drive to the base of Cotopaxi. Once there we picked up a local guide, bought our passes to the National Park, stopped at the museum and then drove up to the parking lot, which is surprisingly high on the Volcano. From the parking lot it is supposed to be a 45 minute walk up the volcano to the refuge. Well, it took us about an hour and 20 minutes. The altitude was really taking its toll on our heart and lungs so we stopped a lot and rested. It was quite the climb tho, and one of the most beautiful days for it. Our guide kept telling us that he has never seen the mountain so clearly. We were also able to see Chimborazo Volcan, which is about a 3.5 hour drive south of Quito. I think it is Ecuador's (maybe the worlds?) tallest inactive volcano at 6310 meters. Our hike was from 4300 meters to 4800 meters on Cotopaxi. It was astounding views of several volanoes.

Later in the evening after returning from our hike I had dinner on the terrace again. Reunited with the Texans that are travelling the world for 3 years, and then ended up hanging out with one of the girls I had met the night before - Danielle from Canada, and another girl, Paula from Columbia. It happened to be the last night of one of the girls that worked at the hostel, so there was clearly going to be a party. Three glasses of wine later and a mini dance party on the terrace (including some running man to the tunes of non other than MC Hammer), we were all feeling pretty good. They had ordered a party bus to take everyone to the Mariscal to go out. We all went to "No Bar", which was right next to "Yes Bar." Everyone danced the night away. It was funtabulous. (You know how I like to shake my booty.)

And then this morning it was up early to catch a 40 minute taxi ride to the bus terminal in the South, to catch a 3.5 hour bus ride down to Banos. I came down with Marie, Kim and Ben (English bloke from Grimsby, which is apparently very grim). I've organized a rafting trip for tomorrow and we might rent a 2 or 4 passenger off road quad sort of thing to go up to the waterfalls. And then there is also the option of some paragliding and a bike ride down to Puyos, and a bunch of other things...I could be here a while. Only time will tell!

Round 1, vs Pizza

Pizza? Really? Apparently my first bout of food related illness is due to the pizza I ate in Mindo. Had to skip bird watching the next morning and slept most of the following day. Walked down to Hotel Descando for a little bit to watch the hummingbirds. There I sat and chatted with William, a bird watcher that lives in Mindo. But I started to feel sick again after a little while and went back to my hostal to sleep. Today I felt a lot better and I hiked up to the ziplines over the canopy. Very cool! I´ve been ziplining before but never so high over the trees!! And I saw a toucan! Woohoo! Mindo is a beautiful town and I was sad to leave but there is so much more to see. Tomorrow I will hike part of the Cotopaxi Volcano and then on Friday I am off to Banos for some rafting, biking and relaxation. It should be a pretty chill place to relax for a few days. I heard the coast is cloudy right now and I think I might skip it and stay in Banos a little extra and then I will have a little bit longer to explore nothern Peru as well. Hasta luego!

Northern Ecuador

Well, obviously I'm having a great time and keeping busy if this is the first time I've sat down at a computer on my trip (aside from to email my parents to say I got here okay but my phone isn't working).

I arrived safely in Quito, a little late but I made it! I shared the ride to my hotel with an English guy, Simon, who is going to bike from Quito to Ushuaia, the most southern tip of Argentina! He might be a little crazy to do it, but I admire his courage and it is going to be an amazing trip.

I left the next morning for Otavalo, which ended up being a great decision. Thanks to Lonely Planet, I was pretty sure there was going to be a festival when I got there, and there was! Woohoo! PARTAY!! Festival del Yamur. The first day I wandered around, organized a couple trips out of the city for the next couple days and then I noticed that there were chairs being lined up along one of the main streets...hmmm...this looks just like Santa Barbara when there is going to be a parade. So I explored a little more, watched some street performers, and then the crowds started to form. And eventually, a parade celebrating all the different cultures of Ecuador started to proceed. There were lots of dancers wearing many different colorful costumes, bands, and some floats. There were even some dancing horses like in the Fiesta parade. So pretty much, I felt at home. ;) Although, in Otavalo, people were drinking in the streets, and drinking in the parade...why won't they let us do that in SB? Ah well, I guess you can't have everything.

The next day I went to the markets. Otavalo is famous in all of South America for its markets. There is a huge sprawling "crafts" market where they sell...crafts...AND clothes, toilet paper, fruit, veg, watches, shoes, cleaning supplies, cds...pretty much everything. I also went to the animal market. And that was quite the site....there are people selling animals...guinea pigs (bunches carried around in large bags), chickens, cats, dogs, cows, pigs, geese, and more! It was pretty crazy. Later in the day I went hiking around Lagunas Mojandas which was very beautiful in the Antiplano. A couple from Holland and a guy from New York (Josh) were on the hike with me. Later that night, Josh and I met up to go to the crowing of La Reina del Yamur. It ended up being sort of half concert, half beauty pagent. One of the performers was Fausto, a famous pop singer in Ecuador...and boy did the girls go crazy for him! Ha! The girls running for la reina were all between 16 and 20. Nathaly won.

The next day, (yesterday,) I went on a tour of indigenous communities. Josh came too, which ended up being really good because the guide only spoke Spanish and Josh is bilingual (he was actually born in Ecuador and moved to NY when he was 5). After the tour we went to the Condor Park and then to the bull fighting (part of the festival del Yamur). I then headed back to Quito. At the hostal I reunited with Simon and couple other travelers I had met my first night, as well as meeting several more backpackers (including 2 Israeli’s that had just arrived from working Jewish summer camps in the U.S. – one in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin!).

This morning I explored Quito. I went to La Compania de Jesus – a church that is plated with gold inside. I also saw the changing of the guards at the El Palacio del Gobierno - quite the event! I then went up to the Basilica and decided to risk my life climbing to the top of the tower. Oh my dear, it was just about as bad as bungy jumping. I had to walk across a wooden plank bridge and then climb several steep ladders. It was pretty scary but somehow I made it!

Now I am I Mindo (highly recommended by several people I have met so I decided to add it to my trip and spend less time in Quito). Tomorrow I have to get up at 5am to go birding. I think I will see many many colorful birds…including the world’s largest humming bird. Super excited!

Oh man, the excitement never ends!! We hiked the Tongariro Crossing in Taupo which was pretty fantastical! Right past Mt Doom. Beautiful blue-green lakes. We spent a lazy afternoon in River Valley - played a little "sand" volleyball. The next morning hiked up a steep hill side and then another hike along a river to a tall waterfall. Really relaxing. Then we went to Windy Wellington - which was indeed windy and not all that pleasant. Onto Nelson where me, Dunja, Corina and Aaron went hiking in Abel Tasman, spent the night in a hut and then kayaked back. Really beautiful when the sun came out!! And we saw some seals. Great trip. Some more hikes, some more seals, three-legged pub crawl (something we need to do in SB), and then there was the poo pub party. Our theme - Christmas. You will definitely have to get a look at the pics on facebook - pretty incredible!! Tons of fun!! Tomorrow we will hike up Franz Josef! Super excited!!! :)

Sweet As!!!!

Phew! It has been a whirlwind since I arrived in New Zealand. I went scuba diving in Paihia in the Maitauri Bay. We saw a giant sting ray, moray eel, and tons of crayfish. Very cool. I went kayaking in Cathedral Cove, luging and zorbing in Rotorua and now skydiving in Taupo!! Sooo AWESOME!!!! Tomorrow I will head out on a 17km hike - the Tongariro Crossing!! Sooo excited. I skipped rafting in Rotorua to save for the way back.

I've been hanging out with a couple of Swiss girls - Dunja and Corina, and a Canadian guy - Aaron. We all went kayaking and skydiving together, and when we can we share a room so we can avoid the sleeping in a room with people who STINK! We had a terrible hostel experience at the Base in Auckland with moldy food in the fridge and and random underwear around the room! GROSS!!! Other than that it's been pretty cool. I hope the skydiving dvd makes it all the way home!

Until later - living the dream in New Zealand.

New Zealand!

Okay, I realize my blogging for the Middle East was pretty lame. But I suppose I can try again for New Zealand! I arrived in Auckland at 5:25am on November 17th - gotta love crossing the date line. I'm going on a day trip around Auckland today and then when I get back to the hostel I plan on napping for a looooong time. Don't leave for Paihia until the 19th so I have a couple days to get familiar with Auckland and New Zealand, and just get settled in general.

Daydreaming in Dahab

Today we took the ferry from Hurghada to Sharm El Sheik and then a bus to Dahab. We are staying at a resort with a private "beach" - more of a coast line with a pier for jumping in and snorkeling in the reef. We can see lots of coral and beautiful colorful fish from the pier. For dinner we (Fiona, Linda and Julia and I) took the shuttle into town and walked around to find a koshary place. After eating koshary we were pressed for time to catch the shuttle back. We ended up walking way out of the way in the wrong direction and having to find our way back to town cutting through alleyways. We say a camel napping in the field and some stray dogs. Ended up missing the shuttle and having to take a taxi back to the resort. But wouldn't trade in the experience of wandering through Dahab's back alleys while Julia did arm exercises with her two 1.5L bottles of water and we joked about Sa'ad being really worried that his habibi was lost in a slightly sketchy area. :) Another good night!

Tomorrow morning we will go snorkeling in the famous blue hole, most of the group will go quad biking after. Julia and I will probably come back and snorkel more at the reef at the hotel. Looking forward to the excitements of the underwater world!!